1 Kings 3:22

22 The other woman said, No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son. This said, No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.

1 Kings 3:22 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:22

And the other woman said
The defendant: nay, but the living [is] my son, and the dead [is] thy son;
she denied what the other said, but offered nothing in proof of it: and this said;
she who was the plaintiff replied in the same language: no: but the dead [is] thy son, and the living [is] my son;
without being able to add anything in confirmation of what she had deposed: thus they spake before the king;
several times, over and over again, what is before expressed, having nothing to produce on either side in proof of their assertions; so that it was very difficult to determine to whom the living child belonged.

1 Kings 3:22 In-Context

20 She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

21 When I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.

22 The other woman said, No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son. This said, No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.

23 Then said the king, The one says, This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead: and the other says, No; but your son is the dead, and my son is the living.

24 The king said, Get me a sword. They brought a sword before the king.